Volkswagen Golf24 at Nurburgring

It’s the 35th anniversary of the legendary Golf GTI and more than fitting that Volkswagen Motorsport has developed a hard-core racing version of what is the world’s highest volume production car.

It’s called the Golf 24, and is powered by a 336 kW (450 hp) 2.5 litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine. Power is to all four wheels through a sequential six-speed gearbox with paddle shifters, and as you can see from the photographs, it’s a pretty spectacular body shell.

The three factory cars will be driven by a variety of racers including ex Formula 1talent, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell, as well as Volkswagen junior Rene Rast and DTM rookie Edoardo Mortara.

Volkswagen has always done well at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race, and this weekend should be no different for team which includes two bio natural gas powered Scirocco GT24-CNG cars.

One of the Sciroccos will be driven by some high-calibre talent that includes Dakar Champions, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Carlos Sainz and Giniel Villiers. The second Scirocco will be piloted by Le Mans racer Vanina Ickx and journalists Peter Wyss and Bernd Ostmann.

The fourth driver for both cars is previous DTM racer Klaus Niedzwiedz, who has twice won the 24-hour race.